


META: Character Perspectives on the Sokovia Accords

by Elf (Elfwreck)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Meta, Not Beta Read, Post-Battle of Sokovia, Sokovia Accords, civil war spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 21:39:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6874639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfwreck/pseuds/Elf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My thoughts on why characters fell on the side of sign or don't sign during CA:CW. I tried to minimize spoilers, but I'm sure they're in here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	META: Character Perspectives on the Sokovia Accords

The split over sign/don't sign was ridiculously predictable, and had more to do with each person's experience with formal authority/contracts than the contents of the Accords. None of them intended to follow the Accords as written, especially the "go where we tell you" part - they might maybe be willing to accept an outside organization's evaluation of "stay the hell out of this one," but not a single one of them is going to agree to be the UN's attack squad for causes they don't personally believe in.

What they were [expected to sign](http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Captain-America-Civil-War-What-You-Need-Know-About-Sokovia-Accords-97767.html) (emphasis added):

> In accordance with the document at hand, I hereby certify that the below mentioned participants, peoples, and individuals, shall no longer operate freely or unregulated, but instead operate under the rules, ordinances and governances of the afore mentioned United Nations panel, **acting only when and if the panel deems it appropriate** and/or necessary.

**CORE TEAM TONY**

**TONY** \- Plenty of experience with gov't contracts. He has a policy: Sign whatever they put in front of you; do what you feel you need to; let the lawyers sort it out later. Tony trusts that his legal committee can pull off "no, we didn't follow that order because it was unconscionable" or "oh that one? we weren't acting as 'the Avengers' there; that was just a pack of people who happen to live together doing their own thing." Tony's got the money, celebrity status, and political power to get away with breaking laws and international contracts, and he's happy to fund the rest of the team doing the same. Shifting the lawyers' target from local courts to international ones doesn't bother him a bit.

Also, he's currently feeling guilty and wants an oversight committee - not an actual command structure, but someone whose job it is to check things out and say, yep, go rescue those, or nope, too much risk to bystanders. Not that he'd necessarily follow instructions, but he'd like an external source of input on that. Tony's trying to convince the group that it'd really be useful to have some external perspective on their activities… the "sign, ignore, let the lawyers fight it out" part is so obvious to him that he doesn't even mention it. He can't figure out why they don't see a problem with making all their decisions in an echo chamber.

Tony may have the most practical and objectively reasonable solution, but he's fairly oblivious to understanding how other people make important decisions, and his antagonism doesn't help matters.

 **NATASHA** \- Also plenty of experience with gov't contracts. She has a similar policy: fly under the radar as much as possible, which means signing things where necessary and then working to not get caught when you break the rules. Natasha doesn't remotely believe a UN task force could even keep track of the Avengers, much less enforce any "do this" or "don't do that" rulings. Lying on paper is unimportant to her; she's done spying in so many directions she probably thinks it's hilarious that anyone expects her signature to mean anything. 

I tend to think most of Natasha's "hey, Tony has a point" conversations are her sneaky way of saying "c'mon, who cares what we sign?" – while knowing that there is always the possibility of surveillance, and it's important to never say out loud "I'm just doing this so you'll leave me alone." I think she might also see the value in a group that can know what they're doing; I'm sure she misses SHIELD's analytical team input and would like something similar available for the Avengers.

 **RHODEY** \- Currently loyal to the gov't that employs him. Trusts in the concept of government, and in the UN; he's the only one in this whole pack who actually thinks the Accords are a good thing, even if he's aware that government oversight committees often have problems in application. As far as he's concerned, all his War Machine activities are part of his US Armed Forces rules; additionally signing to UN oversight--as long as his own gov't agrees--is not a problem. And he firmly believes that the USA is the greatest country on earth, and if the UN wanted him to do anything contrary to US interests, he'd get counter-orders from his own bosses, and that would trump the UN orders.

 **VISION** \- Vision is logical. Vision expects government committees to be logical, because when you get extra computers together, they get more processing power and that reduces errors and bias, instead of increasing them. Also, Vision's core programming was created by Tony... it's going to contain some of his unconscious biases. Vision doesn't have a problem with oversight because he's a computer (or was born out of one) and surveillance doesn't bother him, and he's a bit too naïve to realize how much political bias is going to skew their orders. Also, he may believe that the team can just refuse to follow orders that are "obviously flawed" without serious consequences—or at least, without consequences as bad as those for not signing.

**CORE TEAM STEVE**

**STEVE** – Knows damn well he wouldn't follow the instructions – and Steve does not agree to things he doesn't believe in. He has no problem with lying on paper (see: how many times did he apply for the military?) but saying "this is true" is not the same, in his mind, as saying "I agree to do X." His feelings for Bucky are tangled into this, but he knows that's biased… so he falls back on his core ethics, which include not budging about what he thinks is right. 

He KNOWS the UN won't be unbiased – that they'll send the Avengers after people who aren't so much vile criminals as politically controversial, that they'll tell the Avengers to stand down when the people being hurt are in the way of some political cause. He doesn't think this through consciously; Steve's cynicism isn't that open. But he knows he believes in people, not organizations – he might be willing to allow an oversight committee of people he knows and trusts (hypothetically, there could be enough of those to make a committee), but he's damn well not turning his conscience over to a group of elected/appointed officials. And, being Steve, he's not going to sign something that says he is.

Steven Grant "I could do this all day" Rogers doesn't back down from a fight just because it's (1) unwinnable (2) easily evaded with a bit of compromise or (3) dragging in bystanders. Steve may be morally right in Civil War, but his stubbornness is what picked the actual path of his resistance.

 **SAM** – Sam works for/with the VA. Sam knows damn well how careful governments are with the wellbeing of their troops, and he has no reason to believe the UN is any more considerate than the US. He knows, much more consciously than Steve, that the Avengers would stop being a force for justice (no matter how flawed, sometimes) and become an elite attack squad pointed at political targets. He knows what would happen to their reputations and their morale, as they had to constantly double-check every order. They'd need to figure out if they were actually trying to shut down a robot-enhanced drug cartel or an uprising against an oppressive government; to find out if they were being told to stay back to avoid harming civilians or because the committee thinks civilians in that area are expendable and wants the Avengers well-rested for next week's project. 

Sam trusts Steve's moral compass, but more than that, he distrusts government orgs that say "we will let you know when and how your services are needed." And he doesn't know Tony well enough to trust Tony's lawyers, and doesn't have Natasha's years of spy history to decide "just sign it and we'll sort out the aftermath later."

 **WANDA** – Wanda has had enough of being considered a child who can't make up her own mind. She's recently gotten out of being tortured and experimented on; her brother is dead; she's a long way from home; she doesn't trust government organizations – after all, the last one she met was awful. And nobody's trying to convince her that this one is better, that this one is full of the good and noble people and has plenty of oversight to make sure that stays true… they're trying to say "oh, little girl, you don't understand the issues; just sign and agree that we know better than you what you should be doing." So she won't sign, but she didn't fight either, at first. But once one of her friends needed her, once it shifted into combat teams, she put herself firmly in the "you can't tell me what to do" camp.

She is also aware that her powers make her a huge threat in their eyes, and they may claim that she needs to be locked up for the safety of the populace. Her abilities are the least understood by modern science, and for many people, that makes her a test subject more than a citizen. She's not sure they've actually got anything that could hold her, but she'd really rather not find out, and rather not kill a bunch of people escaping from whatever they do have planned. 

**LATE TO THE PARTY**

**CLINT** – "I was fucking retired, dammit." Clint, like Natasha, thinks the idea of a directing committee is useless government interference; if he were an active part of the team when it went down, he might've sided with her. (Might not… he has a family to watch out for, and keeping them safe might mean not agreeing to anything that could allow them to be used as leverage.) But he wasn't brought in on the sign/don't sign argument; he was brought in to help Steve. And Clint has his own guilts to deal with, and in any moral question that's Steve vs Tony, Clint knows which side he's on. 

He has no problems fighting parts of his own team over what's right; he's been on special ops assignments where he had to act based on info they didn't have. He broke the rules to bring Natasha in because he trusted his judgment over orders; he doesn't mind – and doesn't hold it against Tony's team – that he's clashing with them over a matter of ethics. He figures they'll all eventually sort out what's right, and in the meantime, Steve needs help.

 **PETER** – Peter is young (very young) enough to believe that signing an agreement that the UN should manage superheroes is a great idea. He's also only hearing the details from Tony, who knows exactly how to persuade young geeky scientists that they should focus on the fun parts and ignore any details Tony decides to gloss over. Peter is _literally too young to sign_ the Accords, because he's not mature enough to be legally responsible for his actions. Tony is a manipulative jerk for bringing him into this… but to be fair, Tony is also aware that the fallout from the Accords drama is going to very much affect Peter and others like him, and he's claiming some responsibility for that by getting him directly involved. (Tony's ethics are not the cleanest, nope nope nope. But this is his Tony-esque way of being protective: join my team, and I'll do my best to take care of you.)

 **T'CHALLA** – Even before the UN incident, he had to be aware that the Accords could be pointed at him. And initially, he was willing to believe that oversight would be good, that it'd be morally right to act on behalf of an external organization instead of by his own choices, which he recognized could be biased and selfish. After a crash-course in vengeance action, he realized that no committee is going to be able to (1) stop him if he decides to go on a rampage nor (2) lead him to the realization that he's been wrong. He may want oversight, but the only people with the potential to provide it are people with powers equivalent to his, who wrestle with the same kinds of moral questions—and he doesn't trust any of them enough yet.

 **SCOTT** – Doesn't trust governments; likes Sam; believes his suit is awesome and would love the chance to show it off. If he were part of the initial discussions, he'd probably be on the don't-sign team, but be willing to be convinced to sign with a few hints of "I have a legal team" from Tony. But he wasn't; he was brought in later, under "we have a problem and need help" rather than "here's the contract the gov't wants you to sign."

I know very little about Ant Man (haven't seen the movie yet), so I only have Civil War as a reference for him. He strikes me as aware of the complexity involved but not the details, and as willing to put himself on the line with two very honorable veterans, feeling certain that however it plays out, he won't have any problems looking himself in the mirror after. 

**BUCKY** – At the center of the conflict and not actually part of the sign/don't sign game. Bucky's not fighting for political rights; he's fighting for his life and soul. Bucky is with Steve all the way; if Steve's not signing, neither is Bucky – but Bucky isn't being offered a chance to sign; he's the target reason the Accords conflict moves from "political maneuvering" to "international conflict requiring a lot of firepower immediately." (I wonder if the UN would want to assign the Avengers to go after him. I have no idea how the UN thinks that would work. Do they assume they could just tell the Avengers to take him down/kill him? Or tell them to go away and local authorities will deal with him like a standard criminal?) 

Bucky's role in the personal storylines going on is incredible (argh the angst, the angst… Tony finding out The Big Truth in the middle of a meeting where he was trying so hard to reunite the team…) but he's only a footnote in the Accords drama.

**SIR NOT APPEARING IN THIS FILM**

**THOR** – I assume Thor is off-planet, and was surprised nobody said that to Ross. Thor is not subject to UN oversight; he's not a citizen of any nation on Earth. If Thor had been around, it's possible he could've suggested (or an Asgardian diplomat could've suggested) that the oversight committee should obviously be Asgardian, because (1) they're not concerned with local politics and therefore won't be using the Avengers as a hit squad and (2) they've actually got the (potential) ability to take down the Avengers if needed, and the UN doesn't. Or, depending on Asgardian politics at the moment, maybe he could offer them all citizenship, or at least asylum… "here, I'll move them all off-planet and then you won't have to worry about them anymore."

Most governments seem to think of Thor as a kind of flying tank with weather powers; they forget that he's foreign royalty. The political aspects of the Accords get much more complicated if Thor's involved.

 **BRUCE** – It wasn't until I was reading fic after the movie, that I remembered/realized who Ross was. If Bruce had been around, we'd've likely had a much shorter movie as the Hulk crushed Ross into a fine red paste, and the team returned the blood-spattered pages of the Accord to the UN committee with instructions on where to put them. If, hypothetically, Bruce were find-able and able to take sides, he'd have to be on the no-sign side. Even aside from Ross' obsession with him, someone would insist that he be locked up/monitored 24/7 "for safety," and Bruce is not going to put up with that.

The sample page from the Accords doesn't show Bruce or Thor as being potential signatories. The simple option is that there's at least one additional page for signatures (which may include non-Avengers like Scott Lang and Steven Strange and who knows, maybe various Inhumans from AoS); another is that they're aware that Thor is outside UN jurisdiction entirely and they consider Banner too much of a threat to leave roaming free at all.


End file.
